But of course, for all of these recipes, you need a grill. There are some recipes that you just need an actual BBQ for. And this is one of them. (I suppose you could try it on a grill pan… Let me know if you do!)

I don’t have a BBQ, so I’ve been saving up this recipe for a while, until we were invited to visit friends with BBQs.

1) They invited us over.
2) They have a barbecue.
3) They asked us to bring a veggie side dish.
4) They love coconut milk.

And most importantly:
5) They are almost as obsessed with kale as I am.

So over we went, with some marinating kale in tow. And a couple of beers. Perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon.

Which was only made better when I was promised veggie burgers. Which is only better when it’s a grilled portobello mushroom on a bun. Which is only better when you add Brie. Yes, summer perfection — along with corn grilled in the husk and the best red cabbage slaw ever (apparently the secret is celery seed, go figure).

Until you can get yourself to a BBQ, I recommend my Kale Chips. But as soon as you can grill outdoors, you need these.

Wash the kale thoroughly and tear the leaves off of the stalks. Pat the leaves dry with a clean tea towel, or use a salad spinner. Discard the stalks (or save for soup!).

In a pot over low heat, warm the coconut milk until it is just lukewarm. Transfer to a pyrex dish and add the salt, cayenne, paprika, chili flakes, and lime juice. Stir to combine.

Add the kale and cover the leaves completely with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

On your preheated BBQ, use tongs to arrange the kale leaves in a single layer. Grill for 45-60 seconds, flip over, and grill for another 45-60 seconds. You are aiming for the consistency of soft centres and crispy edges, not 100% charcoal leaves.

I’d say they are more ‘nuanced’ than kale chips — you get more softness in the centres along with the crispy edges in the grilled version rather than all crispy in the oven… and you get the smokey barbecue flavours, which I quite like.

These were supremely amazing on top of my portobello burger, and had a lot more flavour than the kale chips, I think.